ballou



(No Model.)

Y C. C. BALLOU.

MANUFAGTURB 0F Boo'rs AND' SHOES.

N. 245,601. Patented Aug. 16,1881. y

' Wizessag/ I7we7z207j Crm/S C. BALI/ om UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OYRUS @.BALLOU, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

IVIANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,601, dated August 16, 1881.

(No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CYRUs C. BALLOU, of the city and county of Albany, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in boots and shoes, and is an improvement on the invention for which Letters Patent of the United States No. 204,785 were granted to f me on the 11th day of' June, 1878, and the object of my present improvement is to produce boots and shoes in which great strength and endurance to wear are combined with the highest degree of flexibility, so that the articles may be worn with the most attainable degree of comfort to the wearer. This object I attain by means of the construction shown in the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which- Figure lis an inverted plan view of my composite inner sole, and Fig. 2 a longitudinal section of the lower portion of a shoe containing my improvements.

As illustrated in the drawings, A indicates my composite inner sole, which consists of a heel portion, a, forward extension-piece, a', and feeder a2. The heel portion a is made ot' leather or other suitable material, and of any thickness required for producing the necessary rigidity in the shank portion of the sole. The said heel portion covers the entire heelseat of the boot or shoe and extends forward about one-half of' the inner length, or to the ball of the boot or shoe. The forward end of said heel portion is chamfered oft' to produce a thin edge, to which is attached, by cementing or otherwise, the extension-piece a. Said extension-piece is made ot' thin canvas or other thin, strong, and very flexible material, and it forms a complement to the heel portion a for producing a composite inner sole, having the full outline of' an inner sole and extending over the entire inner surface of the bottom of a boot or shoe. The feeder a2 furnishes a substantial body, to which the ingathered toe portion of the vamp or upper of a boot or shoe may be secured by tacks or cement in the operation of lasting. Said feeder is made of leather or other suitable material, and vis adhered by cement or other means to the under side of the extension-piece a', near the toe of the latter. Said feeder, on its outer edge, conforms to the outline of -the loe ot' the last on which the shoe is made, but, as shown in Fig. l, it is made smaller than the toe of the extensionpiece a that it is attached to, so asrto leave a parallel margin of the said extension-piece protruding beyond the outline of the feeder, for the purpose of receiving the line of stitching` for securing the upper and soles together. By this mode of construction the line of stitching will be run entirely outside of the feeder,

and it will, by reason of the pliant nature ot' the extension-piece a', have a continuous bearing on the flange of theupper from the forward end of' the heel `portion a at one side of the shoe, thence around the toe, and back to the forward end of the extension-piece a at the opposite side of the shoe.

B represents a gusseted vamp or upper, as fully set forth and described in my Letters Batent No. 204,785, the gusset b of which for this class of boots and lshoes I preferably make of. canvas or other light, strong, and flexible fabric; and in the operation of lasting, as'described in my aforesaid patent, the gusseted vamp is drawn over the inner sole while the latter lies upon the bottom of the last, and thereby the gusset b will be located between the inner and outer soles of the boot or shoe. After the shoe is lasted, (as described in my prior patent, excepting the mode herein described for fastening the ingathered toe portion of the vamp to the feeder,) and while the outer sole, O, is temporarily secured to the vamp by any of the usual means for such temporaryfasteniug, the lasted shoe is removed from the last, so that the vamp or upper B may be permanently secured to the soles, and this latter operation maybe effected either by hand or machine sewing whose stitches will involve and hold together the inner sole, A, vamp or upper B, and out-er sole, C.

It is a well-known fact that the greatest strain thrown upon a boot or shoe in wear falls upon that part wherein the ball of the foot comes, and it is likewise well known that this strain, which causes the boot or shoe to burst out at the sides, is produced by the tendency of that part of the foot to spread sidewise, and

by the constant iiexing ot that part of the boot or shoe caused by the act of walkin g 5 and it is another Well-known fact that in machinemade boots and shoes that have the ordinary inner sole the anges or inturned edges of the vamp, at the sides of the ball of the foot, are only held by the perpendicular threads of the stitches at that part, the perpendicular threads being the only ones that pass through said flanges, the horizontal threads (which always render the most eti'ective service in binding the parts together) having no direct bearing on the langes, but are run on the surface of the inner sole, which is too iniiexible to yield to the tension of the thread so as to form protuberances on the under face of the inner sole, which protuberauces, by becoming embedded in the upper surface of the flange, would reuder invaluable service in holding the sides of the vamp in a fixed position on the inner sole.` In shoes made with the ordinary inner sole the perpendicular threads soon become frayed out and broken by the sliding movements of the diiierent thicknesses of the material through which those threads pass, and this sliding movement, produced by the constant flexing ofthe parts when used in Walking, also soon causes the cutting away and bursting out of the sides of the upper on the line of the surface-edge of the rigid inner sole. This defect in the strength ofthe shoe is remedied by the use of my composite inner sole, whose forward extension piece ot thin and pliant material permits the horizontal threads and the securing-loop of each stitch to be drawn down and embedded (with the material ot' the extensionpiece) into the upper' surface of the flange of tlre vamp in such manner that the vamp and outer sole will be immovably held together,Y the sliding` movement-s ofthe parts prevented, y and the shoe will be greatly strengthened to resist the burstingstrain hereinbefore referred t0.

My composite innersole, made and secured in place as above described, While it forms an unbroken connection or stay of suficient strength to bind together the sides and the heel and toe portions of the vamp or upper, and produces the required rigidity for the shank of the sole.l it also, by reason of the great ilexibilityof the extension-piece a', reduces the usual rigidity of the sole where it is subjected to the greatest flexing-. e., directly beneath the ball of the foot-and therefore it serves to produce in a boot or shoe those qualities that combine the highest degree of flexibility with the greatest endurance in Wear.

By running the line of stitching outside of the feeder a2, and by holding the sides of the vamp by means of the gusset b, I am enabled to cut the Vamps with a much smaller flange than is required for shoes made with the ordinary rigid inner sole, and thereby I effect a considerable saving ot' the most expensive material used in the manufacture of boots and shoes.

I claim as my inventionl. As an improvement in boots and shoes, the composite inner sole, A, consisting ot' a thick heel portion, a, thin ilexible extensionpiece a', and feeder a2, secured together in the manner and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination, with a gusseted vamp or upper, B, as herein described, of the composite inner sole, A, consisting of a thick heel portion,a,iieXibleeXtension-piecea,andeeder a2, all constructed and combined as and for the purpose herein specified.

lCYRUS U. BALLOU. Witnesses:

WILLIAM H. LOW, EDWARD E. PAUL. 

